美国逼近财政悬崖

The chances of a US budget deal before the end-of-year deadline are fading, with congressional leaders blaming each other for their failure to reach agreement mere days before new spending cuts and tax rises kick in.

在年终截止期限前就美国财政预算达成协议的可能性正在逐渐消失。对于两党未能在距离新的增税减支措施自动生效仅几天之际达成一致，国会领袖相互指责对方。

President Barack Obama phoned congressional leaders on Wednesday from Hawaii before cutting short his Christmas break to fly overnight back to Washington in a last-ditch effort to revive talks on the budget.

周三，总统巴拉克·奥巴马(Barack Obama)在夏威夷致电国会领袖。随后他缩短了自己的圣诞假期，连夜飞回华盛顿，试图付出最后的努力重启预算谈判。

But his intervention had little immediate impact. Harry Reid, the Democratic Senate Majority leader, took to the Senate floor yesterday to criticise Republicans in the House of Representatives for not returning to the capital to continue talks.

但他的干预未能立即起效。参议院多数党领袖、民主党参议员哈里·里德(Harry Reid)昨天在参议院发表讲话，批评众议院的共和党人未能及时返回首都继续谈判。

“Nothing can move forward in regards to our budget crisis unless Speaker Boehner and [Republican Senate Minority] Leader McConnell are willing to participate in coming up with a bipartisan plan, he said. “So far, they are radio silent.

“除非众议院议长博纳(Boehner)和（共和党籍的参议院少数党）领袖麦康奈尔(McConnell)愿意参与制定两党合作的计划，否则将无从取得进展，他说，“迄今，他们还是默不作声。

Mr Reid said it appeared a deal was unlikely before the January 1 deadline. “It looks like that’s where we’re headed, he said, signalling that the White House and Congress were entering a new and perilous phase.

里德称，赶在1月1日期限之前达成一致的可能性似乎不大。“看上去我们正在朝这一方向迈进，他说。里德暗示，白宫和国会正在进入一个新的危险阶段。

Mr Reid’s comments confirm what many in the White House and Congress had already concluded: that Democrats and Republicans are too far apart on taxes and spending to strike a deal in time.

里德的看法印证了白宫和国会中许多人已经得出的结论：民主党和共和党在税收和开支方面分歧过大，无法在短期内达成一致。

The angry rhetoric, combined with gloomy economic data, sent equity markets lower. By lunchtime, the US benchmark S and P 500 index was down 1.2 per cent.

他的愤怒言论和黯淡的经济数据引发股市下跌。美国基准股指标普500 (S and P 500)指数午盘下跌1.2%。

Traders reacted immediately to the latest readout on consumer confidence, which was worse than expected and suggested that the uncertainty surrounding the fiscal cliff is already hurting the economy.

最新的美国消费者信心指数引发了交易者的立即回应。该数据低于预期，似乎表明围绕财政悬崖的不确定性已经伤害到经济。

The Conference Board’s confidence index fell to 65.1 in December from a revised 71.5 the previous month, when the forecast had been for a reading around 70. The index is now at its lowest for five months.

美国大企业联合会(Conference Board)的信心指数从上个月修正后的71.5降低至12月的65.1，而预测值是70左右。该指数达到五个月来新低。